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Get a handle on traditional clamps 1 2 HAND-SCREW CLAMPS Opening or closing a hand-screw clamp is like riding a bicycle: Once you know how to do it, you’re off to the races. Hold the handles and crank them as though you are hand-cranking the pedals of an inverted bicycle. The clamp will open or close in a blur (1). To exert pressure with the tips of a hand screw, always open the back screw rather than tightening the front screw (2). the cam clamp’s jaws are made of wood, it’s possible to modify them or tack other parts onto them for some operations. Both hand screws and cam clamps are great at the workbench, but they are just as useful and versatile for machine work. I’ll use them to hold a part still for joinery or shaping, or as a kind of carriage to hold a part while I slide the clamp along the machine table to make a cut. Finding elegant solutions to tricky problems is the part of furniture making that makes me most satisfied. y h, e of e s Timothy Coleman builds furniture in Shelburne Falls, Mass. Drawings: Michael Gellatly (top); Chris Mills (bottom) MAY/JUNE 2017 47 a handle on traditional clamps 1 2 HAND-SCREW CLAMPS Opening or closing a hand-screw clamp is like riding a bicycle: Once you know how to do it, you’re off to the races. Hold the handles and crank them as though you are hand-cranking the pedals of an inverted bicycle. The clamp will open or close in a blur (1). To exert pressure with the tips of a hand screw, always open the back screw rather than tightening the front screw (2). the cam clamp’s jaws are made of wood, it’s possible to modify them or tack other parts onto them for some operations. Both hand screws and cam clamps are great at the workbench, but they are just as useful and versatile for machine work. I’ll use them to hold a part still for joinery or shaping, or as a kind of carriage to hold a part while I slide the clamp along the machine table to make a cut. Finding elegant solutions to tricky problems is the part of furniture making that makes me most satisfied. y h, e of e s Timothy Coleman builds furniture in Shelburne Falls, Mass. Drawings: Michael Gellatly (top); Chris Mills (bottom) MAY/JUNE 2017 47 ard ard a cam on the k pads on their ja avoid marring the workpiece.